HORSE RACING: NOTEBOOK

HORSE RACING: NOTEBOOK; Power Outage Interrupts Wagering

By JOSEPH DURSO

Published: May 27, 1995

Belmont Park's holiday weekend got off to a disrupted start yesterday when a transformer burned out on Hempstead Turnpike and cut electric power at the track for 1 hour 20 minutes, delaying races and eliminating betting entirely on the fifth race.

The loss of power occurred at 2:10 P.M., between the third and fourth races, and knocked out lights throughout the Elmont, L.I., track, the infield tote board, the automatic betting machines and the public-address system. And the breakdown was complete when the primary and secondary backup systems were also used up or failed to operate.

The starting gate is activated by battery, so the fourth race was run after a delay with no further betting, except for telephone accounts. The winner was Jake's Sister, and the crowd was advised later that she paid $11.60.

The next race was delayed while the horses were being saddled in the paddock. But when it became apparent that full power could not be restored immediately, the crowd was told that the race would be run for only the purse, with no betting allowed. The Pick Six bet, which covers six races in a row, was declared to be a Pick Five.

The race was described by Tom Durkin over the public address system, whose power was restored, but was watched in silence by the nonbetting crowd. Full power was restored just after 3:30. For the audience: free rain checks and programs.

Big Weekend Ahead

The Memorial Day weekend will cast some shadows toward the Belmont Stakes, which will be run two weeks from today. And Nick Zito is already warming up two of his colts, Star Standard and Suave Prospect, to team up against D. Wayne Lukas and his powerful two-horse entry: Thunder Gulch, who won the Kentucky Derby, and Timber Country, who won the Preakness.

The weekend starts today with the $75,000 Roseben sprint at six furlongs, starring Rizzi, Evil Bear, Waldoboro and the Canadian horse Swamp King. The 3-year-old colts take the stage tomorrow in the $150,000 Peter Pan Stakes, the final prep for the Belmont. A field of 11 horses was entered yesterday, with Treasurer drawing the rail and three favorites on the far outside: Suave Prospect, Citadeed and Flitch.

Suave Prospect is getting back to the races after chasing Thunder Gulch in the Fountain of Youth, the Florida Derby and the Kentucky Derby. In his final prep for the Kentucky Derby, he outran Thunder Gulch in the Blue Grass but spent so much time waiting for a duel to develop that both were outrun by the 30-1 long shot Wild Syn.

"I think he should have won at least two or three of those four races," Zito said yesterday. "In the Derby, our position hurt us. Julie Krone tried to find her own position, and that never happens in the Derby. You know, jockeys don't claim foul, horses don't get taken down, everything goes in the Derby."

Zito said that Pat Day would ride Suave Prospect in the Peter Pan but that Krone might be back for the Belmont, which she won two years ago aboard Colonial Affair. Day is committed to his Preakness winner, Timber Country, for the Belmont.

In the Metropolitan Mile on Monday, some high-powered horses like Cigar and Cherokee Run will not be there. But Devil His Due, Silver Goblin, Our Emblem and Romarin will be. In a race won dramatically last year by Holy Bull, they will be running for $500,000.

Day Receives Venezia Award

The winner of the 1995 Mike Venezia Award for sportsmanship and citizenship is Pat Day, who has won more than 6,000 races, including the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness four times and the Belmont twice, and has led the nation in riding six times. Day called the award "a great distinction." It honors Mike Venezia, the jockey who was killed in a spill at Belmont Park in 1988.. . . The place is Oceanport on the Jersey Shore, the time is tomorrow and the event is the 50th anniversary season of Monmouth Park, which will run through Sept. 3. The highlights: the $500,000 Haskell Invitational on July 30 and the $300,000 Philip H. Iselin on Aug. 20. Full-card simulcasts will be offered from New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland tracks. And Monmouth will be dark on Mondays and Thursdays, except during holiday weeks.